Where Music Meets the Heart: A Conversation With David LaMotte

This episode of Speaking of Travel opens the door to a new year with intention, warmth, and deep joy as we welcome the extraordinary David LaMotte, songwriter, speaker, peace builder, author, and quiet force for good in the world.

Being with David feels like stepping onto a peaceful back porch at sunrise, shoulders soften, the air feels clearer, and you’re reminded that kindness still has a strong pulse in the world. His life’s work spans five continents and more than three decades of music, storytelling, and peace building, yet he carries his experiences with humility, humor, and an easy grace that makes our conversation feel personal and alive.

David shares how early international travel shaped his sense of belonging, from church youth trips to Mexico and Haiti, to a transformative semester abroad in Paris, where busking and backpacking helped him discover who he was when everything familiar fell away. 

Throughout the conversation, David reflects on what travel teaches us about ourselves, how music and silence both carry wisdom, and why peace is not a distant ideal but a daily practice rooted in listening, presence, and love. He speaks how meaningful connection, between people, cultures, and landscapes, can gently change the way we live.

This is an episode about becoming more fully human. About curiosity instead of certainty. About growing in ways that don’t demand perfection but invite awareness. David reminds us that healing can be subtle, that gentleness is powerful, and that joy often arrives quietly when we’re paying attention.

Settle in, breathe a little deeper, and allow this conversation to meet you where you are. This is Speaking of Travel at its most intimate and an invitation to listen, reflect, and step into the year ahead with an open heart.

Thanks for listening to Speaking of Travel! Visit speakingoftravel.net for travel tips, travel stories, and ways you can become a more savvy traveler.